Picture it. April, 1991. My friend asks me to go see Yes on their Union tour. I said no thanks. I knew one song, “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” and the video had scared the crap out of me back in the early ’80s.
Little did I know that 1) Yes would soon become my favourite band and that 2) I’d never see this line-up perform.
The Union tour of 1991 included eight current and former members of the band – Jon Anderson (vocals), Chris Squire (bass/vocals), Tony Kaye (keyboards), Bill Bruford (drums), Steve Howe (guitar/vocals), Rick Wakeman (keyboards), Alan White (drums) and Trevor Rabin (guitar/vocals). It was an interesting mesh of personalities that unsurprisingly couldn’t sustain itself, but while it did created some of the most beloved performances in Yesstory.
The Union tour was first officially celebrated ten years ago with the release of a CD/DVD set that captured a professional recorded show along with some bootleg material. It was a solid set, but now, for the 30th anniversary of the tour, Gonzo Multimedia, working with the tour’s original promoted, Larry Magid, is going to absolute town with a massive collection commemorating the anniversary.
Here’s the press release:
As you are probably aware, 2021 is the 30th anniversary of the critically acclaimed Yes Union Tour, featuring all 8 iconic members of the band. To celebrate this event, courtesy of Larry Magid Entertainment, Gonzo Multimedia has put together a special souvenir limited edition SUPER DELUXE BOX SET containing 30 discs! The main disc features a multi-camera shoot DVD, with an accompanying soundtrack mixed by Trevor Rabin from the Shoreline Amphitheatre (8th August 1991) show. Also included in the box is a mixture of fan recordings, desk tapes and FM/Radio Broadcasts. These will be included with the main program, as a way for the band to combat this highly bootlegged tour, where some fans are paying in excess of $70 per show from various Japanese websites. All packaged in a fantastic flight case which accommodates 10 x ‘fatpack’ style jewel cases each containing 3x discs to make the 30 discs in total. Each heavy-duty flight case has been sprayed individually, and the stickers placed by hand. No two flight cases are the same, making each one unique and a highly collectable piece of rock and roll memorabilia! This item will undoubtedly become both desirable and HIGHLY collectable.
Rick Wakeman said about the project, “It has been well documented that I loathed the Union studio album as the whole project was taken out of our hands and destroyed by those handed the responsibility for finishing it off. However, the Union Tour was another matter. Probably the most amazing and enjoyable tour I have ever been on with Yes and I am so glad it was recorded and filmed as it was an incredibly special time that can never be repeated. The Union Your is for me, the most important event in Yes history..”
Contained in each limited edition deluxe flight case will be:
CDx2+DVD: Pensacola Civic Centre 9th April 1991
CDx3: Worcester Centrum, Worcester, MA 17th April 1991
CDx2+DVD: Nassau Colosseum 20th April 1991
CDx3: Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany 31st May 1991 (FM Broadcast)
CDx3: Wembley Arena, UK (2 Discs) 29th June 1991 FM Broadcast + Star Lake Amphitheatre 24th July 1991
CDx3: Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Wisconsin 26th July 1991
CDx2+DVD: Madison Square Gardens, NYC 15th July 1991
CDx3 Spectrum Theatre, Philadelphia, 12th July 1991
CDx2+DVD: Shoreline Amphitheatre (Remastered) 8th August 1991
CDx3: Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan 4th March 1992
Paper parts:
Numbered certificate Reproduction Tour programme Reproduction AAA Laminate, Reproduction cloth passes, 10 band photos Poster x 2
Wow.
Now there’s a lot to digest in here – I will say this. Trevor Rabin remixing the Shoreline show is a BIG deal, and in the clips below you can hear how good the music actually sounds.
Yes Union Live Limited Edition is a definite big ticket item, designed for the hardcore Yes fans out there. The band is onboard with the release, and Rick Wakeman himself has shared the band’s performances of “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” and “Roundabout”. You can see them below, and then order your own set here.
